J&K ultras strike for the 2nd day

SRINAGAR: A day after multiple terror strikes against security personnel in Kashmir, suspected militants on Wednesday carried out another grenade attack in a busy market place in Anantnag apparently targeting a police vehicle, leaving five civilians injured. Unidentified militants hurled a grenade at Goriwan market in Bijbehara town on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, a police spokesman said.

He said the grenade exploded outside a shop resulting in injuries to five civilians . Official sources said a passing police vehicle was apparently the target of the attack but the grenade missed it. The grenade attack comes a day after a series of similar attacks targeting security forces were carried out in Srinagar and south Kashmir's Shopian district. No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which sparked panic among people in the highway town. Police assisted by paramilitary forces immediately cordoned off the spot but no one has been arrested so far.

The injured were rushed to a hospital . Suspected militants on Tuesday carried out twin grenade attacks in Srinagar injuring three CRPF jawans. They also shot at and injured a policeman in Anantnag district town besides making an abortive attempt to target a police party with a grenade in Shopian district. Meanwhile, two militants of Pakistanbased Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) , who were allegedly tasked to carry out fresh grenade attacks, were arrested in Baramulla district of north Kashmir. Bilal Ahmad Mir and Javid Ahmad Mir were arrested and two grenades seized from them at a checkpoint on Court Road in Sopore town, Superintendent of Police of Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain, said. He said the militants were attempting to carry out grenade attacks in the town when they were intercepted by the police and taken into custody.

He, however, said the duo were "not linked" with Tuesday's grenade attacks in Srinagar and Shopian town of south Kashmir. Both the arrested militants were residents of Sopore town and were locally trained activists of LET outfit, Hussain said, adding one of them was a "recycled" militant. Security forces have stepped up vigil across Kashmir following the militant strikes and have set up special check points at various places in the Valley to foil such attacks. A mortar shell was recovered and destroyed by Bomb Disposal Squad in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, the police said. A police spokesman said an 81-mm rusted mortar shell was recovered from an open field near Kurhama-Maidanpora village in Kupwara district , 90 kms from here. The spokesman said the shell was later destroyed by a Bomb Disposal Squad.